Receiver, transmitter and radio communication method

ABSTRACT

Provided are a receiver, a transmitter and a radio communication method capable of using non-orthogonal multiple access while suppressing cost increase and processing delay. A mobile station  200 A includes a target user control signal detector  230  and an interfering user control signal detector  240  which are configured to receive a control signal to be used to cancel a non-orthogonal signal by interference canceller. The control signal includes control information containing a radio resource block allocated to the non-orthogonal signal addressed to another mobile station. The mobile station  200 A demodulates and cancels the radio signal addressed to the other mobile station on the basis of the control signal.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a receiver, a transmitter and a radiocommunication method which are adapted to non-orthogonal multipleaccess.

BACKGROUND ART

Mobile communication systems, for example, Long Term Evolution (LTE)standardized by the 3GPP, widely use orthogonal multiple access in whichmultiple orthogonal signals not interfering with each other are usedbetween a base station and user terminals (mobile stations). On theother hand, there has been proposed non-orthogonal multiple access usingnon-orthogonal signals to increase the capacity of a mobilecommunication system (for example, see Non-patent document 1).

The non-orthogonal multiple access is based on the premise of signalseparation (interference canceller) through non-linear signalprocessing. For example, in the case of downlink, a base stationconcurrently transmits non-orthogonal signals to multiple userterminals. Each of the user terminals performs signal processing toremove, from the received non-orthogonal signals, a signal addressed toa user terminal (at a cell edge) having a larger path loss than the userterminal itself, and then demodulates the resultant signal.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT

Non-Patent Document

-   Non-patent document 1: D. Tse and P. Viswanath, “Fundamentals of    Wireless Communication”, Cambridge University Press, 2005,    <http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/ to dtse/book.html>on the Internet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As described above, in the case of non-orthogonal multiple access, eachuser terminal, i.e., each mobile station needs to perform demodulationafter signal processing of removing the signal addressed to a mobilestation having a larger path loss than the mobile station itself. Forthis reason, the processing load in the mobile station is so high thatproblems of cost increase and processing delay of the mobile station mayoccur. A possible solution to these problems is to introduce hybridorthogonal/non-orthogonal multiple access in which orthogonal multipleaccess and non-orthogonal multiple access are used in combination. Withthis introduction, the problems of cost increase and processing delay ofthe mobile station can be expected to reduce to some degree.

In the implementation point of view, however, it is preferable that eachmobile station be able to recognize the conditions of mobile stationsmultiplexed in non-orthogonal multiple access in order to achievefurther cost and processing delay reductions.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of theabove circumstances, and has an objective to provide a receiver, atransmitter, and a radio communication method capable of usingnon-orthogonal multiple access while suppressing cost increase andprocessing delay.

In summary, a first feature of the present invention is a receiver (forexample, a mobile station 200A) including: a radio signal reception unit(physical channel segmentation unit 210) configured to receive radiosignals including multiple non-orthogonal signals which are notorthogonal to each other; an interference cancelation unit (datademodulating/decoding units 220) configured to extract thenon-orthogonal signal addressed to the receiver from the multiplenon-orthogonal signals received by the radio signal reception unit, bydemodulating and cancelling the radio signal addressed to anotherreceiver; a control signal reception unit (a target user control signaldetector 230 and an interfering user control signal detector 240)configured to receive a control signal to be used by the interferencecancelation unit to demodulate and cancel the radio signal; and ademodulation unit (the data demodulating/decoding units 220) configuredto demodulate the signal extracted by the interference cancelation unitand addressed to the receiver. The control signal includes controlinformation containing a radio resource block allocated to thenon-orthogonal signal addressed to the other receiver. The interferencecancelation unit demodulates and cancels the radio signal addressed tothe other receiver on the basis of the control information.

In summary, a second feature of the present invention is a transmitter(base station 100) including: a radio signal transmission unit (a hybridorthogonal/non-orthogonal multiplexer 130 and a physical channelmultiplexer 160) configured to transmit radio signals to multiplereceivers located within a cell, the radio signals including multiplenon-orthogonal signals which are not orthogonal to each other; and acontrol signal transmission unit (a control signal generator 140, acontrol signal resource allocator 150 and a physical channel multiplexer160) configured to transmit a control signal to the multiple receivers,the control signal being to be used by any of the receivers todemodulate and cancel the radio signal addressed to another one of thereceivers from the multiple received non-orthogonal signals. The controlsignal includes control information containing a radio resource blockallocated to the non-orthogonal signal addressed to the other receiver.

In summary, a third feature of the present invention is a radiocommunication method including the steps of: receiving, by acommunication device, radio signals including multiple non-orthogonalsignals which are not orthogonal to each other; receiving, by thecommunication device, a control signal to be used to demodulate andcancel the radio signal addressed to another receiver from the receivedmultiple non-orthogonal signals; demodulating and cancelling the radiosignal addressed to the other receiver by the communication device; anddemodulating, by the communication device, the signal extracted by thecancelling step and addressed to the communication device. The controlsignal includes control information containing a radio resource blockallocated to the non-orthogonal signal addressed to the other receiver.In the step of cancelling the non-orthogonal signal, the radio signaladdressed to the other receiver is demodulated and cancelled on thebasis of the control information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an overall schematic configuration of a mobilecommunication system 1 according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating radio resource allocation images inorthogonal multiple access, non-orthogonal multiple access, and hybridorthogonal/non-orthogonal multiple access.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a functional block configuration of atransmission unit of a base station 100 according to the embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a functional block configuration of a receptionunit of a mobile station 200A according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of scheduling ofnon-orthogonal signals for mobile stations in the base station 100according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a radio resource block allocationexample according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example 1 of a controlsignal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example 2 of a controlsignal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example 3 of a controlsignal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example 4 of a controlsignal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.Note that, in the following description of the drawings, same or similarreference numerals denote same or similar elements and portions. Inaddition, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic and ratiosof dimensions and the like in the drawings are different from actualones.

Therefore, specific dimensions and the like should be determined inconsideration of the following description. Moreover, as a matter ofcourse, the drawings include portions having different dimensionalrelationships and ratios from each other.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an overall schematic configuration of a mobilecommunication system 1 according to this embodiment. As illustrated inFIG. 1, the mobile communication system 1 includes a base station 100and mobile stations 200A, 200B.

The base station 100 transmits radio signals to the mobile stations200A, 200B, more specifically to the inside of a cell C1. In addition,the base station 100 receives radio signals from the mobile stations200A, 200B. In this embodiment, the base station 100 configures atransmitter and the mobile stations 200A, 200B each configure areceiver.

The mobile station 200A is located within the cell C1 but is located ata cell edge of the cell C1 where a path loss of a radio signal from thebase station 100 is large. The mobile station 200B is located in thecenter within the cell C1. For this reason, the path loss of a radiosignal from the base station 100 in the mobile station 200B is smallerthan the path loss in the mobile station 200A.

In this embodiment, the base station 100 transmits radio signals to themobile stations 200A, 200B located in the cell C1, the radio signalsincluding multiple orthogonal signals that are orthogonal to each other,and multiple non-orthogonal signals that are not orthogonal to eachother. In other words, the mobile communication system 1 uses acombination of orthogonal multiple access for implementing concurrentcommunications with multiple mobile stations using orthogonal signals,and non-orthogonal multiple access for implementing concurrentcommunications with the multiple mobile stations using non-orthogonalsignals (hereinafter referred to as hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonalmultiple access).

Parts (a) to (c) of FIG. 2 illustrate radio resource allocation imagesin the orthogonal multiple access, the non-orthogonal multiple access,and the hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multiple access. As illustratedin part (a) of FIG. 2, in the orthogonal multiple access, radioresources allocated to mobile stations (users) do not overlap each otherin the bandwidth in a frequency domain/time domain/space domain. Forthis reason, in principle, the orthogonal multiple access does not needto remove interferences from the radio resources allocated to the othermobile stations. The orthogonal multiple access is also used in LongTerm Evolution (LTE) standardized by the 3GPP.

As illustrated in part (b) of FIG. 2, in the non-orthogonal multipleaccess, radio resources allocated to mobile stations (users) overlapeach other in the bandwidth mentioned above. For this reason, eachmobile station needs to remove all the multiple access interferencesthrough signal processing. The specific signal processing therefor canuse the technique described in Non-patent document 1 mentioned above.

As illustrated in part (c) of FIG. 2, in the hybridorthogonal/non-orthogonal multiple access, radio resources allocated tomobile stations (users) partly overlap each other in the bandwidthmentioned above. For this reason, each mobile station only has to removemultiple access interferences of a prescribed number or less accordingto the number of multiplexed radio resources.

This embodiment reduces a signal processing load associated with removalof multiple access interferences by introducing the aforementionedhybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multiple access, and specifies a radiointerface enabling a mobile station to recognize the number of multipleaccess interferences to be removed.

(2) Functional Block Configuration

Next, a functional block configuration of the mobile communicationsystem 1 is described. FIG. 3 is a diagram of a functional blockconfiguration of a transmission unit of the base station 100. FIG. 4 isa diagram of a functional block configuration of a reception unit of themobile station 200A.

(2.1) Base Station 100

As illustrated in FIG. 3, a transmission unit of the base station 100includes coding/data modulating units 110, a base station scheduler 120,a hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multiplexer 130, a control signalgenerator 140, a control signal resource allocator 150 and a physicalchannel multiplexer 160.

The coding/data modulating units 110 perform division of transmissiondata, channel coding/data modulation, transmission power setting, andresource block allocation for their respective predetermined users (userk). In this embodiment, in particular, the coding/data modulating units110 allocate radio resource blocks to orthogonal signals andnon-orthogonal signals included in radio signals to be transmitted tothe mobile stations 200A, 200B.

The base station scheduler 120 controls the coding/data modulating units110, the hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multiplexer 130 and thecontrol signal generator 140 on the basis of information such asfeedbacks of Circuit State Information (CSI) from the mobile stations200A, 200B, and the path loss between the base station 100 and each ofthe mobile stations 200A, 200B.

In this embodiment in particular, the base station scheduler 120schedules signals multiplexed as non-orthogonal signals for multiplemobile stations (for example, the mobile stations 200A, 200B), on thebasis of the path losses of the signals multiplexed as non-orthogonalsignals to the respective multiple mobile stations, in such a way thatthe signals can have a large difference in the path loss among them.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of scheduling of non-orthogonal signalsfor mobile stations in the base station 100. The example illustrated inFIG. 5 uses non-orthogonal signals with which at maximum four users(mobile stations) are multiplexed. As illustrated in FIG. 5, in the caseof non-orthogonal signals, multiple signals are not orthogonal to eachother, in other words, the same radio resource block in the frequencydomain or time domain is allocated to the multiple signals.

In this embodiment, signals are multiplexed as non-orthogonal signalssequentially from a signal addressed to a mobile station having thesmallest path loss to a signal addressed to a mobile station having thelargest path loss. A signal addressed to a mobile station having a smallpath loss only needs low transmission power to surely obtain a desiredSNR, and therefore accounts for a small share in a vertical axis(transmission power) direction in FIG. 5. On the other hand, a signaladdressed to a mobile station having a large path loss needs hightransmission power to surely obtain a desired SNR, and thereforeaccounts for a large share in the vertical axis (transmission power)direction in FIG. 5.

In the case of using such non-orthogonal signals, for example, the user(mobile station) having the second smallest path loss needs to removeinterferences from the signals allocated to the two mobile stationshaving the larger path losses than the user (see explanation in thedrawing).

Note that, the example illustrated in FIG. 5 also uses orthogonalsignals to which different radio resource blocks in the frequency domainand time domain are allocated, i.e., multiple signals orthogonal to eachother. Since the aforementioned interference does not occur between theorthogonal signals, the mobile stations do not have to remove theinterference.

The hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multiplexer 130 multiplexes theorthogonal signals and the non-orthogonal signals. Specifically, thehybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multiplexer 130 multiplexes signals(radio resource blocks) outputted from the multiple coding/datamodulating units 110 under the control of the base station scheduler120. As a result, the multiplexed signals as illustrated in FIG. 5 aregenerated.

The control signal generator 140 generates various kinds of controlsignals to be broadcasted to the mobile stations 200A, 200B. In thisembodiment, in particular, the maximum number of signals multiplexed asnon-orthogonal signals (for example, quad multiplexing) is known to thebase station 100 and the mobile stations 200A, 200B. The control signalgenerator 140 generates a control signal necessary for a mobile stationto demodulate and cancel radio signals addressed to other mobilestations (other devices).

The control signal generator 140, for example, can generate a signalincluding the following control information or reference signal in orderfor the mobile station to demodulate and cancel radio signals addressedto other mobile stations (other devices):

(a) information indicating the number (including 0 or 1) of multipleaccess interferences to be removed by a user (mobile station);(b) information indicating the conditions (such as allocated radioresource block, modulation scheme and channel coding rate) of otherusers, which are needed by the user (mobile station) to remove multipleaccess interferences;(c) a reference signal necessary for coherent demodulation in the user(mobile station); and(d) information (transport block, definition of a radio resource block,transmission power control, feedback control signal, and the like)necessary for allocation of radio resource blocks in the hybridorthogonal/non-orthogonal multiple access.

The control signal generator 140 may generate a control signal includingany one or any combination of the above (a) to (d). The control signalgenerator 140 transmits the generated control signal to the mobilestations 200A, 2003 via the control signal resource allocator 150 andthe physical channel multiplexer 160.

In this embodiment, the control signal generator 140, the control signalresource allocator 150 and the physical channel multiplexer 160configure a control signal transmission unit to send the mobile stations200A, 200B a control signal to be used by the mobiles stations 200A,200B (multiple receivers) to cancel the non-orthogonal signals addressedto the other receivers (for example, the mobile station 200A).

The control signal resource allocator 150 allocates a radio resourceblock to the control signal outputted from the control signal generator140.

The physical channel multiplexer 160 multiplexes baseband signalsoutputted from the hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multiplexer 130 andthe control signal outputted from the control signal resource allocator150 with each other in physical channels. The signals outputted from thephysical channel multiplexer 160 are subjected to IFFT and Cyclic Prefix(CP) is added to the resultant signals. Then, the signals aretransmitted to the mobile stations 200A, 200B from a transmissionantenna. In this embodiment, the hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonalmultiplexer 130 and the physical channel multiplexer 160 configure aradio signal transmission unit to transmit orthogonal signals andnon-orthogonal signals to multiple mobile stations (receivers) locatedwithin the cell C1.

(2.2) Mobile Station 200A

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the mobile station 200A includes a physicalchannel segmentation unit 210, data demodulating/decoding units 220, atarget user control signal detector 230 and an interfering user controlsignal detector 240. Note that the mobile station 200B has the samefunctional block configuration as the mobile station 200A.

The physical channel segmentation unit 210 receives radio signalstransmitted from the base station 100, and performs segmentation ofphysical channels included in the radio signals. As described above, theradio signals received by the physical channel segmentation unit 210 areradio signals transmitted from the base station 100 (one transmitter)and include orthogonal signals which are orthogonal to each other andnon-orthogonal signals which are not orthogonal to each other. Thesegmented physical channels are outputted to the datademodulating/decoding units 220, the target user control signal detector230 and the interfering user control signal detector 240. In thisembodiment, the physical channel segmentation unit 210 configures aradio signal reception unit.

There are provided multiple data demodulating/decoding units 220.Specifically, the data demodulating/decoding units 220 are provided forinterfering users and a target user according to the number of signals(users) multiplexed as non-orthogonal signals. In this embodiment, sinceat maximum four users are multiplexed, it is preferable to also providefour data demodulating/decoding units 220.

The data demodulating/decoding units 220 each execute radio resourceblock extraction, interference canceller, channel estimation,demodulation/decoding and decoded data combining.

In particular, in this embodiment, the interference canceller of thedata demodulating/decoding units 220 extracts the non-orthogonal signaladdressed to the mobile station 200A from the multiple non-orthogonalsignals by demodulating and cancelling the radio signals addressed tothe other mobile stations (receivers) by use of the orthogonal signals(for example, the foregoing control information and reference signal)included in the received radio signals.

Specifically, the interference canceller demodulates and cancels theradio signals addressed to the other mobile stations (receivers) on thebasis of the control signal received by the physical channelsegmentation unit 210 (control signal reception unit). Morespecifically, the interference canceller cancels the non-orthogonalsignals addressed to the other mobile stations on the basis of thecontrol information included in the control signal detected by thetarget user control signal detector 230 and the interfering user controlsignal detectors 240.

In addition, since the maximum number of multiplexed non-orthogonalsignals is known (quad multiplexing in this embodiment), theinterference canceller demodulates and cancels the radio signalsaddressed to the other receivers within the range not exceeding theknown maximum number of non-orthogonal signals. Note that theinterference cancelling method will be described later.

In addition, the data demodulating/decoding unit 220 demodulates thesignal included in the orthogonal signals and addressed to the mobilestation 200A and the signal extracted by the interference canceller andaddressed to the mobile station 200A.

The target user control signal detector 230 detects the control signaladdressed to the target user, i.e., the device (mobile station 200A)itself. The target user control signal detector 230 provides thedetected control signal to the data demodulating/decoding unit 220 (forthe target user). Anyone or combination of the above (a) to (d) is usedas the control signal.

The interfering user control signal detector 240 detects the controlsignals addressed to the interfering users, i.e., the other devices (forexample, the mobile station 200B). As similar to the target user controlsignal detector 230, the interfering user control signal detector 240provides the detected control signals to the data demodulating/decodingunits 220 (for the interfering users). In this embodiment, theinterfering user control signal detector 240 configures a control signalreception unit to receive the control signals to be used to cancel thenon-orthogonal signals by the interference canceller.

Here, the signal processing in the interference canceller in the datademodulating/decoding units 220 is explained briefly. First, when themobile station 200A is located at the cell edge of the cell C1 asillustrated in FIG. 1, the interference canceller cannot remove thesignal of the mobile station 200B located in the center within the cellC1. For this reason, the data demodulating/decoding units 220 performthe demodulation/decoding directly. Specifically, the signal processingin the user 1 can be explained based on the following computationalexpression:

Here, the user 1 denotes the mobile station 200A located at the celledge of the cell C1, and the user 2 denotes the mobile station 200Blocated in the center in the cell C1. P₁ and P₂ are transmission powersof the user 1 and the user 2, and h₁ and h₂ are channel gains of theuser 1 and the user 2.

As described above, in the case where the mobile station (user 1) islocated at the cell edge, the received signals (R₁) include aninterference from the mobile station (user 2) located in the cellcenter, but the user 1 cannot remove the interference from the user 2because having a poorer SNR than the user 2. Hence, the user 1 executesthe demodulation/decoding directly without removing the signal of theuser 2.

On the other hand, the signal processing in the user 2 can be explainedbased on the following computational expression:

As described above, in the case where the mobile station (user 2) islocated at the cell center, the received signals (R₂) include aninterference from the mobile station (user 1) located at the cell edge.Since the user 2 has a better SNR than the user 1, the user 2 removesthe signal of the user 1 by decoding it once, and thendemodulates/decodes the signal of the user 2 after removing the signalof the user 1.

Note that this signal processing is the same as the method described inabove Non-patent document 1.

(3) Configuration Examples of Control Signals

Next, description is provided for configuration examples of controlsignals. Specifically, configuration examples 1 to 4 of control signalsare described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 10.

(3.1) Configuration Example 1

To begin with, radio resource block allocation according to thisembodiment is described with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 illustrates aradio resource block allocation example according to this embodiment. Inthis embodiment, in addition to the conventional frequency/timedomain-based definitions of radio resource blocks, a radio resourcedomain (level) for non-orthogonal multiplexing is newly defined(hereinafter, referred to as a non-orthogonal multiplex domain). Inother words, a radio resource blocks allocated to non-orthogonal signalsis defined in the frequency domain, the time domain and thenon-orthogonal multiplex domain.

The non-orthogonal multiplex domain has multiple levels according to thenumber of interference cancellations in the mobile station.Specifically, the levels are determined according to the path lossesbetween the base station 100 and the mobile stations 200A, 200B, and aradio resource block at a higher level is allocated to the mobilestation having a smaller path loss. In other words, the coding/datamodulating units 110 of the base station 100 allocate, to non-orthogonalsignals, a radio resource block defined in the frequency domain, thetime domain and the non-orthogonal multiplex domain having the multiplelevels according to the number of interference cancellations in themobile stations 200A, 200 b.

The mobile station 200A, 200B (user itself) removes signals of mobilestations (interference removal target users) assigned to lower levelsthan the mobile station itself in the non-orthogonal multiplex domain,within the radio resource block in the frequency/time domain to whichthe mobile station itself is assigned (an arrow in the drawing indicatesthe radio resource block allocated to non-orthogonal signals at lowlevels to be removed by a mobile station at the highest level). Inshort, the interference canceller of the mobile station 200A, 200Bcancels the non-orthogonal signals whose allocated radio resource blockis at lower levels than that of the mobile station itself.

Thus, with the definition of the non-orthogonal multiplex domain, amobile station (user) and a radio resource block targeted forinterference removal are automatically and uniquely determined based onthe radio resource block allocated thereto.

Moreover, each mobile station needs to recognize information on radioresource block allocation, modulation scheme, coding rate or the like ofan interference removal target user. To this end, this embodimentenables each mobile station to recognize these kinds of information byusing the control signal.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example 1 of a controlsignal. In the configuration example 1, the control information on allthe users is collectively coded. Specifically, the control informationon all the users is coded by Joint coding. In the configuration example1, the control signal generator 140 of the base station 100 sends themobile stations 200A, 200B a control signal in which the controlinformation on the multiple mobile stations is collectively coded.

In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the control signal includescontrol information containing a radio resource block allocated to anon-orthogonal signal addressed to another mobile station (receiver), amodulation scheme, a transport block size (coding rate), and atransmission power ratio. Note that the transmission power ratio is aratio between the transmission power of the non-orthogonal signal to themobile station itself and the transmission power of the non-orthogonalsignal to the other mobile station. Moreover, the control informationmay contain other control information and a mobile station identifier(UE ID). Then, the modulation scheme, the transport block size (codingrate), and the transmission power ratio are not necessarily essential,and the control signal does not have to include these kinds of thecontrol information.

Further, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the control signal generator 140 maysend the control signal including the levels in the non-orthogonalmultiplex domain (non-orthogonal multiplex levels) within the radioresource block allocated to non-orthogonal signals addressed to multiplemobile stations. However, the non-orthogonal multiplex levels may beomitted if the non-orthogonal multiplex levels can be determined byblind demodulation or the like.

The control signal generator 140 (control signal transmission unit) maychange the number of blind decodes according to the level in thenon-orthogonal multiplex domain. For instance, the number of blinddecodes may be increased as the level in the non-orthogonal multiplexdomain becomes higher.

The mobile station 200A, 200B acquires the control information onanother mobile station whose allocated radio resource block is in thesame frequency domain or time domain as, but is at a lower level thanthat of the mobile station itself, and cancels the non-orthogonal signalto which the radio resource block at the lower level than that of themobile station itself is allocated, by using the acquired controlinformation.

Such control information may be mapped in ascending order (or descendingorder) of the level in the non-orthogonal multiplex domain. Instead,information indicting the levels may be included in the controlinformation, and thereby the mobile station 200A, 200B may be directlynotified of the levels.

(3.2) Configuration Example 2

Parts (a) and (b) of FIG. 8 are diagrams illustrating a configurationexample 2 of a control signal. In the configuration example 2, thecontrol information necessary to remove interference of an interferenceremoval target mobile station (user) is sent as control informationaddressed to the user itself.

Part (a) of FIG. 8 illustrates a configuration example of a controlsignal addressed to a user at a low level in the non-orthogonalmultiplex domain. Part (b) of FIG. 8 illustrates a configuration exampleof a control signal addressed to a user at a high level in thenon-orthogonal multiplex domain.

As illustrated in part (b) of FIG. 8, the control signal addressed tothe user at the high level (certain level) is multiplexed with thecontrol information addressed to users at lower levels in addition tothe user at the high level. On the other hand, as illustrated in part(a) of FIG. 8, the control signal addressed to the user at the low levelonly includes control information addressed to the user because there isno need to remove an interference from another user.

In summary, in the configuration example 2, the control signal generator140 of the base station 100 transmits a control signal including thecontrol information on a mobile station at a high level in thenon-orthogonal multiplex domain and the control information on a mobilestation at a lower level than the high level in the non-orthogonalmultiplex domain.

(3.3) Configuration Example 3

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example 3 of a controlsignal. In the configuration example 3, the control signal addressed tothe user itself includes information for demodulating the control signaladdressed to an interference removal target user, specifically, a userlower by one level than the user itself. To be specific, UE ID orinformation indicting the position of a radio resource block (forexample, Control Channel Element (CCE) index, or the like) can be used.

In the case of the configuration example 3, the mobile station 200A,200B sequentially demodulates the control signals of users at lowerlevels. For example, when the control information for the mobile station200B is at the level 2, the mobile station 200B sequentially demodulatesthe control signals for users (for example, the mobile station 200A) atthe level 1 and level 0.

In summary, in the configuration example 3, the control signal generator140 of the base station 100 transmits a control signal in which thecontrol information of a mobile station at a high level in thenon-orthogonal multiplex domain includes the control information ofanother mobile station at the next lower level than the high level.

(3.4) Configuration Example 4

Parts (a) and (b) of FIG. 10 are diagrams illustrating a configurationexample 4 of a control signal. The configuration example 4 is configuredsuch that the control information for a user at a low level can bedemodulated by all the users of multiplexed non-orthogonal signals. Theconfiguration example 4 is effective in a case where the non-orthogonalmultiplex domain only has two levels.

Part (a) of FIG. 10 illustrates a configuration example of a controlsignal addressed to a user at a high level (certain level) in thenon-orthogonal multiplex domain. Part (b) of FIG. 10 illustrates aconfiguration example of a control signal addressed to a user at a lowlevel in the non-orthogonal multiplex domain.

Specifically, in the configuration example 4, the control signalgenerator 140 of the base station 100 transmits a control signal withwhich multiple mobile stations (all the mobile stations) is enabled todemodulate the control information for a mobile station at a low levelin the non-orthogonal multiplex domain. Here, the configuration that canbe demodulated by all the mobile stations (users) is, for example, tofix the radio resource block (CCE index) where the control signal ismultiplexed.

(4) Examples of Operations and Effects

In the mobile communication system 1 according to this embodiment, thecontrol signal used to cancel the non-orthogonal signal in the mobilestation 200A, 200B includes control information containing the radioresource block allocated to a non-orthogonal signal addressed to anothermobile station, the modulation scheme, the transport block size, and thetransmission power ratio. Hence, using the control information, themobile station 200A, 200B can reduce a processing load for removal ofmultiple access interference due to use of the non-orthogonal signals,and thereby cost increase and processing delay in the mobile station orthe like can be suppressed in the case where the hybridorthogonal/non-orthogonal multiple access is introduced.

(5) Other Embodiments

Although the content of the present invention is disclosed through theembodiment of the present invention as described above, it should not beunderstood that the description and drawings constituting part of thisdisclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, variousalternative embodiments would be obvious to those skilled in the art.

For example, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, theexamples of downlink from the base station 100 to the mobile stations200A, 200B are described. However, the present invention can be appliedto uplink. Moreover, the present invention can be also applied to radiocommunications not only between the base station and mobile stations,but also between base stations.

Furthermore, the foregoing embodiments are described by taking as theexample the case where the hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multipleaccess is introduced. The application range of the present invention,however, is not limited to the hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multipleaccess, but obviously includes any mobile communication system usingnon-orthogonal multiple access.

As described above, the present invention naturally includes variousembodiments which are not described herein. Accordingly, the technicalscope of the present invention should be determined only by the mattersdefining the invention in the scope of claims regarded as appropriatebased on the foregoing description.

The entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-114032(filed on May 20, 2011) and Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-227149(filed on Oct. 14, 2011) are incorporated herein by reference.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the features of the present invention, provided are areceiver, a transmitter, and a radio communication method capable ofusing non-orthogonal multiple access while suppressing cost increase andprocessing delay.

EXPLANATION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   -   1 mobile communication system    -   100 base station    -   110 coding/data modulating unit    -   120 base station scheduler    -   130 hybrid orthogonal/non-orthogonal multiplexer    -   140 control signal generator    -   150 control signal resource allocator    -   160 physical channel multiplexer    -   200A, 200B mobile station    -   210 physical channel segmentation unit    -   220 data demodulating/decoding unit    -   230 target user control signal detector    -   240 interfering user control signal detector

1. A receiver comprising: a radio signal reception unit configured toreceive radio signals including a plurality of non-orthogonal signalswhich are not orthogonal to each other; an interference cancelation unitconfigured to extract the non-orthogonal signal addressed to thereceiver from the plurality of non-orthogonal signals received by theradio signal reception unit, by demodulating and cancelling the radiosignal addressed to another receiver; and a control signal receptionunit configured to receive a control signal to be used by theinterference cancelation unit to demodulate and cancel the radio signal;and a demodulation unit configured to demodulate the signal extracted bythe interference cancelation unit and addressed to the receiver, whereinthe control signal includes control information containing a radioresource block allocated to the non-orthogonal signal addressed to theother receiver, and the interference cancelation unit demodulates andcancels the radio signal addressed to the other receiver on the basis ofthe control information.
 2. The receiver according to claim 1, whereinthe control signal reception unit receives a control signal includingcontrol information for a receiver at least at a higher or lower levelthan the receiver in a non-orthogonal multiplex domain, and theinterference cancelation unit demodulates and cancels the radio signaladdressed to the other receiver on the basis of the control signalreceived by the control signal reception unit.
 3. A transmittercomprising: a radio signal transmission unit configured to transmitradio signals to a plurality of receivers located within a cell, theradio signals including a plurality of non-orthogonal signals which arenot orthogonal to each other; and a control signal transmission unitconfigured to transmit a control signal to the plurality of receivers,the control signal being to be used by any of the receivers todemodulate and cancel the radio signal addressed to another one of thereceivers from the plurality of received non-orthogonal signals, whereinthe control signal includes control information containing a radioresource block allocated to the non-orthogonal signal addressed to theother receiver.
 4. The transmitter according to claim 3, wherein a radioresource block allocated to the non-orthogonal signals is defined in afrequency domain, a time domain and a non-orthogonal multiplex domain,the non-orthogonal multiplex domain has a plurality of levelscorresponding to the number of interference cancellations in thereceivers, and the control signal transmission unit transmits a controlsignal including the levels of the radio resource block allocated to thenon-orthogonal signals addressed to the plurality of receivers.
 5. Thetransmitter according to claim 4, wherein the control signaltransmission unit transmits a control signal in which the controlinformation for the plurality of receivers is collectively coded.
 6. Thetransmitter according to claim 4, wherein the control signaltransmission unit transmits a control signal including the controlinformation for a receiver at a certain level in the non-orthogonalmultiplex domain and the control information for a receiver at a lowerlevel than the certain level in the non-orthogonal multiplex domain. 7.The transmitter according to claim 4, wherein the control signaltransmission unit transmits, in the control information for a receiverat a certain level in the non-orthogonal multiplex domain, a controlsignal necessary to demodulate the control information for anotherreceiver at the next lower level than the certain level.
 8. Thetransmitter according to claim 4, wherein the control signaltransmission unit transmits a control signal with which the plurality ofreceivers are enabled to demodulate the control information for areceiver at a low level in the non-orthogonal multiplex domain.
 9. Thetransmitter according to claim 4, wherein the control signaltransmission unit changes the number of blind decodes to be used forblind demodulation of the control signal, depending on the level in thenon-orthogonal multiplex domain.
 10. A radio communication methodcomprising the steps of: receiving, by a communication device, radiosignals including a plurality of non-orthogonal signals which are notorthogonal to each other; receiving, by the communication device, acontrol signal to be used to demodulate and cancel the radio signaladdressed to another receiver from the plurality of receivednon-orthogonal signals; demodulating and cancelling the radio signaladdressed to the other receiver by the communication device; anddemodulating, by the communication device, the signal extracted by thecancelling step and addressed to the communication device, wherein thecontrol signal includes control information containing a radio resourceblock allocated to the non-orthogonal signal addressed to the otherreceiver, and in the step of cancelling the non-orthogonal signal, theradio signal addressed to the other receiver is demodulated andcancelled on the basis of the control information.